In Conversation with Nourished by Time

Photo By Chancey Stefanos

Before his incredible performance at Bacchanal, I got the opportunity to interview Nourished by Time, the singer-songwriter-producer from Baltimore (but now based in NYC). Read on to hear everything from his insights on music education, to his artistic inspirations, and even receiving a shoutout from Tyler the Creator!

(Please note that this interview has been edited for clarity!)

How are you feeling about performing at Bacchanal?

Everyone’s been very professional and kind and hospitable. The soundcheck was great—When do we have a good soundcheck? Maybe what, once every 5 shows or something like that? It’s a pretty rare thing, so when we get a good soundcheck, we’re grateful!

How has your musical taste changed from when you first started playing to your latest release?

That’s a good question. I always like to challenge myself. I think a good example was Prince. When I first started listening to music, I remember my mom kind of held off showing me Prince. She was like, ‘Prince is more of an acquired taste’, in terms of pop music. With his harmonic choices—and structural choices—he was always very experimental. I always try to experiment or listen to people who are experimenting, and doing something that maybe I never thought of doing. 

I think as I get older, I always try to stay open-minded. It’s okay to not like some music, or a certain style of music, but I at least want to have a good reason outside of ‘I don’t like it’. I think that’s probably the biggest thing, but I feel like I’ve always been so curious with music. It’s always been a way for me to learn about myself. So hopefully it just continues to be that.

How do you see your music as being influenced by where you grew up, in Baltimore?

It’s tough because I feel like I was on the internet so much. I feel like I was always online, but I think definitely Baltimore Club music was always around when we were kids. I [also] think certain radio stations like 92Q and 96.3 and 104.3, I think was one of them. [They were just] like jazz stations that my parents own. But they also played “A Quiet Storm”, and old songs from the 80s, like really chill, almost synth-wavy kind of R&B songs. 

Also, hip-hop is really big in Baltimore too. Like, a lot of southern rappers got really big in Baltimore. So just listening to artists like Flocka—Flocka got really big when I was in high school. It was a lot of Gucci [Mane], a lot of T.I., a lot of Lil Wayne, and Lil Boosie. Randomly, he’s not a southern artist, but Dom Kennedy was really big. He’s a rapper from Los Angeles. Hip-hop was a big, big influence growing up. Baltimore was always a big mix. You also had Beach House, [and] Animal Collective. They were the biggest thing in the world at the time in Baltimore in terms of experimental music. Baltimore is a really cool place, honestly. I haven’t really been anywhere quite like it. 

Having received a formalised music education, how did you feel about that experience? Would you recommend pursuing music in higher education for up-and-coming musicians?

These are great questions. I don’t know. Because on one hand, it was probably the most, I don’t know what word, maybe consequential—like that was the nexus point in my life. Everything changed from me going to Berklee. I wouldn’t have met Carrington [friend and bassist]. I just feel like my life would have been so different because I wasn’t really interested in college in any way. It had to be wrapped in music. I mean, I barely made it through Berklee because it was just so academic. For my last year, I just skipped all my classes and I was just writing an album. I was really focused on this, like once I figured out what I wanted to do, everything just felt so unimportant. 

But on the other hand, I don’t know. I will say, I do think it’s important to know the rules of the craft. I think music is one of the only art forms where people feel like they don’t have to know the rules. People will brag about not knowing anything about music theory, when it’s just like, knowing a little bit of music theory really opens your mind and it actually enhances your creativity. I think it’s one of those things where you can break rules, after you know the rules. But I think it limits your ceiling when you don’t know a certain amount of information about what you’re doing. Like if I don’t know how to work a camera, I can’t just start making movies.

Whether it’s formal education or not, I think it’s just important to know certain techniques. I mean, it’s 2026. You can get any bit of information you crave at this point. It’s tough because school isn’t for everyone, you know? So I think finding, maybe, some kind of middle ground.

I will say, something that I haven’t really experienced since [going to Berklee] is just being around—y’all are in college, and there’s really never gonna be a point in your life again where you’re around this energy of everyone trying to learn. Everyone is being inundated with information that they’ve never had before. And this is the only time where it’s hopefully your only job to learn. And for Berklee, it was great because I was surrounded by musicians. 

I’m coming from Baltimore, where I’m the best guitar player in my town, and now I’m just the worst guitar player in the entire school. It’s good for your ego. It’s good to know that there are so many talented people in this world, and they’re down the street from you, and you can learn from them, and you can ask them questions, and you can become better yourself. So I do think school in some kind of formal education is important, however long you do it. 

I mean, I don’t know if it’s meant for 4 years for everyone. But just knowing that you’re not the coolest thing on earth and just knowing where you stack up against other people in the world and finding your niche. I went to Berklee to try to be a guitar player. I realized I was not going to do that, but I had become really interested in songwriting, and it was something that everyone was taking for granted, and everyone thought it was just something that transferred from the instrument that they were playing. Like, I can play guitar. I didn’t write a song. Like, no, it’s a whole different muscle. But yeah, I definitely think it’s important to just learn the information, whether it’s in school or not. But there are benefits to both for sure. 

You’re opening for Robyn later this year! How are you feeling about that? 

I’m really excited. I’ve always been a fan of hers. It’s something that I am really honored to be a part of. Honestly, I think she’s such a legend. In the last year, we’ve been able to meet and play with artists that we’ve always looked up to, like Dev Hynes, like Robyn, and getting shoutouts from Tyler [the Creator]. It’s all just very surreal and humbling. I can’t wait to warm up the crowd for her, because it is her show and her moment, and I’m just very happy for her.